


House of the Setting Sun

by mikawritesthings



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Corruption Arc, End!Georgie, Fan-Domain, Gen, Self-Indulgent, Speculation, also i once again find myself carrying all the thorp content for this fandom on my shoulders, dont worry georgie gets better, dramatic speeches, if todays episode has georgie in it im kinda boned arent i, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27265165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikawritesthings/pseuds/mikawritesthings
Summary: The Archivist can turn others into avatars of the Eye. What if other Entities can do the same? And what if Georgie took advantage of that?
Relationships: Georgie Barker & Jonathan Sims, Georgie Barker & Nathaniel Thorp, Georgie Barker/Melanie King (mentioned), Oliver Banks/Nathaniel Thorp (mentioned)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	House of the Setting Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nausicaa_E](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nausicaa_E/gifts).



> I wrote this in a flurry right before I went to bed last night. In some ways, I think you can tell.

[FAINT, MUFFLED CLANGING AND MUSIC IN BACKGROUND, LIKE THE SOUNDS OF A CASINO]

[SHUFFLING]

[BUTTONS CLICKING]

GEORGIE [WITH FAINT STATIC AROUND HER VOICE]

Oh, _no._ Don’t tell me this is a--

[DEEP SIGH] 

Jonathan Sims, I am going to kill you.

Does this mean you’re nearby, Jon? Are you, like, listening or-- I dunno, _watching_ through this thing?

Maybe you don’t even need to anymore, considering how the Eye is literally inescapable.

[MORE BUTTONS CLICKING]

[BATTERIES FALLING ONTO TABLE]

GEORGIE

...And it never stops recording. Figures. It was worth a shot anyway.

Ugh. I knew I was being monitored already, but the visual reminder just makes it worse.

VOICE

I wouldn’t count on that.

[RECORDER CLATTERS ONTO TABLE AS GEORGIE DROPS IT]

GEORGIE

Oh, _fuck off,_ Nathaniel.

NATHANIEL

Good morning to you, too, Ms. Barker. How are you doing?

GEORGIE

_Is_ it morning?

NATHANIEL

[DRY CHUCKLE] A bit hard to tell, isn’t it? Not least because casinos have no windows.

It is technically… [PAUSE, AS IF CHECKING TIMEPIECE] Six-forty-five in the morning. We’ve got the special privilege of time actually _flowing_ here.

GEORGIE

Yes, time waits for no man and all that.

And how am I doing? Bad. I don’t think I need to clarify that. I’m doing badly, not unlike everyone else here. 

Everyone else except _you,_ that is.

NATHANIEL

I’m only making sure. Considering your… well, your _status,_ you’re in a relatively unique position. The Fears cannot touch you. Therefore, if every other mere mortal is in Hell, you’re more in limbo.

GEORGIE

I get it, I get it, we’ve been over this before. The End is the source of all fear, I’m immune to the End, therefore I’m immune to all fear, so…

Oh, that _includes_ the Eye, doesn’t it?

NATHANIEL

I imagine so. You’re not afraid of the Ceaseless Watcher, so you’ve got it rather stumped.

Anyway, as I was saying _before_ you interrupted me. 

You’re not exactly tied to any of the Fears, either. If a domain is out there waiting for you, it’s likely still something of a blank canvas. Waiting for you to give it your very own coat of… fear paint? Never mind, this metaphor is nothing.

You’re a creature of perfect _apathy,_ Ms. Barker. A creature of nihilism. In some ways, I think the End is more fond of you than the Eye.

GEORGIE

So? I’m not about to go back out there. There are worse things than death, especially now that death doesn’t always stick.

NATHANIEL

That’s odd. I thought you wanted to check back on Melanie.

GEORGIE

[CLEARLY PRICKLING AT THIS NAME-DROP] You don’t _get_ to--

[SIGH] I will. I just… I feel like I need to wait for the right opportunity to do it. There’s some piece that hasn’t fallen into place yet.

[PAUSE, AS IF NATHANIEL JUST HAD A BAD IDEA]

NATHANIEL

[SOTTO VOCE] Oh, the Coroner is _not_ going to be happy about this.

GEORGIE

What? Out with it.

NATHANIEL

Terminus has already marked you with perfect nihilism. You looked into his empty eye sockets and laughed in his skull, and somewhere in his chest cavity, he respected the hell out of that. Death is embedded into your being. But you don’t exactly embody the End… _yet._

GEORGIE

[DAWNING REALIZATION] You can’t be serious.

NATHANIEL

I’m _gravely_ serious, Ms. Barker. That corpse gave you a shield against the Fears. If you’re willing, I could take the next step and give you a sword.

[HEAVY PAUSE AS GEORGIE CONSIDERS HER OPTIONS]

GEORGIE

The process. Will it kill me?

NATHANIEL

Probably. I’m not sure, to be honest; I’ve never done this before.

GEORGIE

But will I get better?

NATHANIEL

Georgie, I’m turning you into an End avatar. For us, mortality tends to be more of an _inconvenience._

GEORGIE

And will it _hurt?_

NATHANIEL

[WITH ALL THE GRIM SATISFACTION OF DEATH-THE-GAMBLER MAKING A GODAWFUL PUN] You can bet on it.

[ANOTHER LONG PAUSE]

GEORGIE

Fine.

Do your worst, Gambler.

NATHANIEL

If you insist.

[SOUND OF DICE ROLLING, CLATTERING ONTO TABLE WITH A CHILLING FINALITY]

NATHANIEL

Snake eyes.

[MUSIC FROM BACKGROUND GROWS LOUDER AND MORE DISTORTED, BUT ITS TEMPO DOES NOT CHANGE]

NATHANIEL, AS DEATH-THE-GAMBLER

Our Inevitable Lot, look well upon this mortal’s beating heart. Pity her living flesh and marrow-filled bone, the sparks that run through her body signalling the emptiness of one marked and not yet claimed. Draw her final breath from her expanding lungs, still the blood in her pulsing veins, and let her mortal soul become a reflection of you who awaits us all. Fill this vessel of apathy with the lifeless ending that has followed her since the noisy beginning. Reshape her into an embodiment of yourself, and _Make. Her. Yours._

[FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE SHE LOST HER FEAR, GEORGIE BEGINS TO SCREAM]

[SCREAM ABRUPTLY CUT OFF WHEN RECORDING ENDS]

[RECORDING CLICKS BACK ON]

MARTIN

It’s a bit _lively_ for an End domain, don’t you think?

ARCHIVIST

That’s the entire point, Martin. If Oliver’s domain was about the fear that one’s life is just a straightforward march towards death, then this place embodies the fear that death might be around every corner. That you’ve only survived this long out of sheer dumb luck, that life is nothing but a long series of gambles, and that eventually, your luck will run out. Here is a place of constant peril, where the house…

[DISTANT, FAINT SCREAM]

ARCHIVIST

...always wins.

MARTIN

So it’s like one long panic attack?

ARCHIVIST

Martin, your experiences are not universal--

Wait. Is that…

Georgie?

GEORGIE [WITH AN EERIE, IMPLACABLE ECHO IN HER VOICE, ACCOMPANIED BY A STRANGE UNDERCURRENT OF EMOTION SHE HASN’T EXPRESSED IN YEARS]

Jon.

[LOUD SMACK]

MARTIN

Hey! What the hell was that for?!

ARCHIVIST

[GROAN] That’s fair.


End file.
